


Hall Monitors

by ShadowBunnyDragon



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:09:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26998723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowBunnyDragon/pseuds/ShadowBunnyDragon
Summary: This is a spin-off miniseries based on my story, Found! It takes place in the near future focusing on Lily in middle school, and her time as a hall monitor, and all the cute and silly shenanigans she and her friends, who all take their job a little too seriously, get into!
Relationships: Judy Hopps/Nick Wilde
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Found](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16721262) by [ShadowBunnyDragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowBunnyDragon/pseuds/ShadowBunnyDragon). 



> **Hello there, readers! This here is a special little side-project of mine! Basically, it is a spin-off mini-series based on my story _Found_! It takes place in the near future, and explores an adorably fun idea I had, of Lily becoming a hall monitor in school. This IS canonical to my story, and no, it does not mean that I've stopped writing _Found_. This is just adding more to the overall story. I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I certainly do!**

"Mr. and Mrs. Bell-Hunter," said Principal Capreol. The female reindeer regarded the couple seated before her in her office while adjusting her glasses. She was wearing a light blue skirtsuit, and carried herself with a friendly demeanor. "I'm so happy that you two could stop by."

"Well, when it's regarding one of our lambs, we like to be as involved as possible," Dawn said. She was wearing a lavender skirt with a matching blouse. Vernon was dressed in a blazer over his polo shirt and jeans, per his mate's insistence. He was looking a little uncomfortable, as Dawn could tell, since he was gently squeezing her hoof in his much larger paw.

"And that is absolutely wonderful! Alice, Trevor, and Lily have all been delights to have!" Mrs. Capreol said, sounding genuinely enthusiastic.

"But?" Vernon queried, the Hunter intuition striking again.

"... Well... the reason I called is... it has to do with Lily," the Principal gently said.

"Has someone been pickin' on her?" Vernon said with a frown. Now it was Dawn's turn to squeeze his paw, but in reassurance.

"Puppy love, she would have told us right away if that happened," Dawn said, reaching up to stroke her mate's neck ruff.

"We do not tolerate bullying here at West Savannah Middle School, Mr. BellHunter," Mrs. Capreol said, meaning it. "No... the matter at hoof... has to do with Lily and her... hall monitor duties..."

"Oh, but I thought that Lily was doing wonderfully as a hall monitor?" Dawn said, now feeling a sense of worry.

"She is exemplary... but... she seems to be taking her duties a bit... seriously..." said Mrs. Capreol, looking uncomfortable, as though she were struggling to find the right words.

"What do y'all mean exactly?" Vernon asked, feeling a little defensive about his pups... but also having a sneaking suspicion about where this was going.

"I think it would be best if I showed you. You see, our AV club has been following and filming our hall monitors around, making an episodic documentary, for their club project. And they've been uploading the episodes to the school's website," Mrs. Capreol said, her hoof fingers click-clacking on her keyboard. She then turned the ultra-thin monitor around on its swivel to face the couple, showing a video on the school's website, titled Monitors. With a click of her mouse, the video took a second to load, and then started to play.

* * *

A theme song similar to "Bad Mams" started to play, along with what was clearly a parody set of lyrics, sung by kids.

_Bad cubs, bad cubs, whatchu gunna do, whatchu gunna do when they come for you?_

"Monitors is filmed on location with the boys and girls of rule enforcement. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in the principal's office," said a surprisingly deep voice.

The video then opened following Lily, dressed in a pink t-shirt with a bedazzled butterfly on the front, and white shorts. She was sporting her orange hall monitor sash and laminated I.D. badge, hanging from her neck on a lanyard, which confirmed her status as a hall monitor. And of course, she was wearing the pair of aviator sunglasses that her Uncle Yuri got her, much to Vernon's annoyance. In the video, the camera, remaining oddly steady, followed her as she walked through the halls. _Lily Bell-Hunter, Age 12,_ appeared in white at the bottom left corner of the screen, and then faded away.

"Things're quiet right now," she said in her father's drawl, having firmly picked it up and kept it, "but we'll be seein' some excitement before long. Ever since the PTA banned sugary snacks and drinks and o' course, candy, we've seen a major increase in smugglin' and dealin'. Yuppers, before, we mainly just had to deal with kids speedin' in the halls, the occasional backpack theft, and the minor stuff like that, and even then it was all few and far between. But now, kids're gettin' ahold of all sorts of sweets and sellin' 'em fer a markup, which o' course gets 'em all riled up and hyperactive. Y'all can do the math there."

The camera cut to a shot of the halls as kids of various species were walking from one classroom to another. The hallways had been posted with No Running signs, had white painted walking "lanes" for the students to walk safely, including bright and colorful stop signs at where the halls intersect.

"The administration thought up all these lanes and such, in an effort to promote safety. Personally, I like 'em, but some kids... like that one up there... I think we got us a live one."

The camera turned to an ocelot boy with a green backpack, who was jogging up ahead. He swerved briefly into the oncoming lane, when he turned to see a hall monitor right behind him, barely missing a distracted rhino boy who almost bowled him over head on. Lily pulled out her radio.

"Dispatch, this is unit Z0013. I have a possible 10-32 on my paws, be advised, over." Lily released the button, and a staticky, mumbled voice could be heard speaking out of it. Lily then picked up her pace while hitting another button on the side of the radio. A light at the bottom started to flash blue and yellow lights and let out a siren, an idea that members of the PTA had found to be adorable when it had been proposed by the hall monitors' rep at a meeting. The ocelot boy jumped and stepped over to the right, standing out of the way of the foot-traffic. Lily cautiously approached.

"See how he's twitching like that? Could be he's just nervous, or maybe just legitimately itchy. However, it could mean that he's been snacking on something sweet and it's got him all energetic," Lily said quietly into the camera before coming up alongside the ocelot boy, who was twitchy and looking around.

"Afternoon, sir, do you know why I pulled you over?" Lily asked, staring straight at him with her large reflective aviator lenses.

The boy gulped and looked away. "N-no, Miss monitor," he said, a little meekly.

"You were swerving all over the hall there and I clocked you up to a jog where the posted speed limit is at a walk."

"Uh... s-sorry about that, I'm j-just gunna be a little late," he said, licking his lips.

"Uh-huh," Lily said, unimpressed; she took a step closer. "I'm gunna need to see your school I.D. and registration," she said, holding her hand out. The boy gulped again and pulled off his lanyard and handed his I.D. to the hall monitor. Lily looked it over and read his name.

"Well, Mr. Jeremy Crepus, before I radio dispatch to check to see if you have any priors or anything like that, is there anything you'd like to tell me? Because I suspect that you might be under the influence of sugar." Lily said this as calmly and casually as she could. The ocelot boy gulped again, and quickly snatched his I.D. from Lily's hands and pushed her to the ground before sprinting off.

Lily had fallen with a grunt, but was right back on her feet, giving chase. She hit the siren button on her radio and once more lights were flashing. "Dispatch, this is unit Z0013, I am in pursuit of a suspect northbound in hall eleven, woah! Make that eastbound down hall twelve. Backup requested. Suspect's name is Jeremy Crepus, he is a male ocelot with a green backpack, I repeat, a green backpack."

While other children and a couple of teachers in the hall leapt to the side to stay out of the way of Lily pursuing her fleeing suspect, the boy known as Jeremy hung a sharp right and almost went skidding. Lily was not deterred, however, keeping pace with the smaller mammal. Soon, her friend Paul, a panther who was also a hall monitor, was in pursuit.

"I go to the bathroom for a minute, and you start a chase without me? Nice way to treat your partner!" he said, keeping up with Lily.

"Sorry, Paul, it just kinda happened." They were coming to the end of the hall, which would have split off to the left or the right, Lily and Paul right behind the fleeing suspect, before said suspect came to a skidding halt. Blocking his path on either side were pairs of hall monitors, with Lily and Paul now standing behind him. On the left side was a giraffe girl and warthog boy. On the right, a white vixen and an elephant girl.

"Jeremy Crepus, you are under arrest," Lily said, stepping forward.

The ocelot whimpered and clutched his backpack to himself. The screen went black, and there was a very familiar Don-Don sound effect as the picture came back into focus. The camera was focused on Jeremy, sitting alone in a small room at a desk. Just outside the clear glass door were Paul and Lily, who were currently talking with an older coyote boy, who was wearing a full charcoal suit with a red tie. All about them there was a general murmur as other hall monitors went about, looking through file cabinets and their backpacks, some escorting apparently arrested students.

"So what do we got?" the boy asked, the name _Orwell Yipper, age 14,_ appearing under him in white before disappearing. "And I can't stay for long, my mom's picking me up soon to take me and my brothers to get a family portrait photo taken."

"Well, we picked him up for running in the halls, pushing a hall monitor, resisting arrest, and we got a teacher's permission to check his backpack," Paul explained. "Plus, he's got priors. Mostly petty stuff like speeding demerits and a few counts of possession."

"Find anything?" Orwell asked.

"Three kilos of gummy spiders and a pack of gum... wild cherry flavor," Lily said. "No way was he just walkin' 'round with all that ta snack on himself."

"So he's dealing, eh?" Orwell said while looking through the door at the boy, who sat there fidgeting.

"I don't think so, Sarge," Lily said while crossing her arms as Orwell and Paul both rolled their eyes. "See, the gummies weren't divided and bagged separetely. I'm thinkin' that he was smugglin' 'em somewhere on school grounds so that they could be cut and distributed."

"We have been picking up a lot more dealers with gummy spiders lately," Paul offered. Orwell considered this and nodded.

"Has he asked for his Mock-Trial Attorney?"

"Not yet, Sarge," Lily said, leaning forward on a desk, "but we did inform him of his rights."

"Alright, see what you can get outta him," he said, before something started to buzz. He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen, frowning. "Well, my mom's here, so I gotta go and wait for her to sign me out at the front desk." With that he left. Lily smiled at Paul and the two nodded. They entered the room.

"Hey there, Jeremy," Paul said, in his usual friendly manner, "sorry to keep you waiting. We were just looking over your record. It makes for quite the interesting read."

"I-it does?" Jeremy asked, rocking back a little in his seat.

"Sure does," Lily chimed in, hands on her hips. "It's interestin' 'cause it was mostly just the petty stuff. Speeding, sippin' sodas, that sorta stuff. But then, cut to today, when you get caught with three kilos of gummies. The good stuff too, all Rustle brand. That's a REALLY expensive buncha candy you had on ya. Kinda a big leap from some small-time possession charges."

"I-I really like gummies... a-and I g-got $20 from my grandma for my birthday that I've b-been saving," Jeremy said, his whiskers twitching and tail swishing.

"Really? Knowing that you've got priors, you still decide to bring it to school all at once?" Paul interjected with a shake of his head. "Nah, I'm not buying it. I'm betting that you're bringing in all those gummies to hand off to someone for distribution, probably some other dealers."

"N-no! You got it all wrong! I-it's... uhm... all m-mine," he said, his voice becoming more and more meek as Lily stared hard at him with her aviators on again.

"You got to face facts, Jeremy," Paul said, putting a comforting paw on the shorter, nervous feline's shoulder, "you've been caught. And so far, you're on the hook for it all."

"That's right. Three kilos of gummy spiders? That's definitely possession with intent, couple that with the pushing of a hall monitor, and all yer priors, and yer lookin' at some serious in school suspension. OH! And can't forget the gum."

Lily then pulled up a chair and sat down next to Jeremy, smiling sweetly as she pulled off her sunglasses, making him shrink back, stuck between the two hall monitors.

"But... if you cooperate, you can avoid all of that, and maybe get it bumped down to some after school service," Paul said, paw still on Jeremy's shoulder.

"I-I'm notta tattletail!" Jeremy said in a voice he clearly wanted to sound defiant, but came out as a squeak.

"Y'all ever been to actual ISS, Jeremy?" Lily asked, leaning in, her smile still cheery, but her voice deadly serious. "Oh wait, naw, just some referrals and notes home and some time out in the hall. Well, let me tell ya. The kids who go to ISS have an established hierarchy. And Gummers... they're at the bottom of that peckin' order."

Paul nodded. "You've probably heard about how the kids in ISS don't take too kindly to those who bring gum to school. I mean, not very many kids do. That stuff is so easy to get stuck in fur and is a nightmare to get out."

"And while y'all will be in ISS dealin' with the kids there, and trust me, they WILL find out that yer a Gummer, all yer so-called 'friends', will be out and about, not carin' one bit about ya. They'll just find themselves a new smuggler to bring their product in." Jeremy frowned as he looked down at his paws, wringing them.

"... I want it in writing..." was all he said, and Paul quickly got up and left the room, coming back with the forms they had worked out between the student government and the faculty. 

The camera went dark, and once more, there was the _Don-Don_. It faded back again to Paul and Lily and five other hall monitors were standing around the door to the shop class. Lily was making hand signals... that the others there seemed kinda lost about. Paul snickered quietly and leaned in.

"We sent a team out around to the windows outside, and another to sneak in through the bathroom window. We go in heavy, and take them all down by the book," he said, while Lily excitedly nodded. She then took a deep breath and counted to five. Using the faculty key that they had been given, she silently unlocked the door, and inside they could all hear shuffling and snickering. Lily held up her hand and made a fist. As one, they all charged in.

"W.S.H.M., FREEZE!" she roared as they all charged through, the camera apparently following behind. Inside was the mostly empty shop classroom, where several pre-teens were working at a table with candy. Some, like the ferret boys and the white wolf girl, put their paws up. A beaver girl and a squirrel boy made a run for the windows in the back, only to be cut off by the hall monitors there quickly climbing through. A javelina boy came bursting out of the bathroom.

"Hall Monitors!" he cried, suddenly seeing his cohorts with their paws up, and put his own hooves up. Behind him, entering from the bathroom, was the warthog boy from earlier, the arctic vixen, and a ram boy. The footage cut to a few minutes later as a pair of teachers, a skunk male and a serval female, with bemused expressions on their faces, started to lead the guilty parties down to the principal's office. Other hall monitors were bagging the evidence and taking pictures.

"This here's an assembly line," Lily explained to the camera after it swept back to her and Paul, at the long wooden table the delinquents had been using. Lily pointed out to different bags of candy. "Shop class is an elective that doesn't start 'til next period, so they had the run of the place 'til Mr. Chuck returned to get ready fer his class."

"As y'all can see, they were cutting the high quality candy with the cheaper stuff, to make it go further, and bagging it separately. In the wooden tubs back near the bathroom, there's a bunch of different kinds, including purrshey bars, sweetdarts, giggly taffy, happy rangers, dorks, snip-snaps, milk studs, the list just goes on; and it was all hidden in a false bottom. Some of it even appears to be hoarded Samhain candy, probably bought the day after at a major discount, only ta be re-packaged and re-sold here for much more than they're worth."

"They're all gunna be getting at least two weeks worth of In School Suspension, easily. They even had a list of all their dealers, which other hall monitors are rounding up and pulling out of class," Paul explained, his tail swishing in excitement.

"Yup," Lily said, the camera panning back over to her just as she put her aviators back on and folded her arms, "that's just the way the cookie crumbles." The screen faded to black and rolled the credits, but shuffling and milling about could still be heard.

"Uh," Paul's voice said, "Lily? We didn't find any cookies here."

"I know... but I thought it sounded cool..." Lily said, sounding disappointed.

"It was! I mean... I was just saying."

* * *

Vernon sat there with his mouth wide open. He turned to look at his mate, to see that she had both hooves over her muzzle, apparently struggling to keep from laughing.

"Lambchop?"

Dawn snorted and started giggling. "Sweet sawgrass, that is just so cute! And, it has some surprisingly good production value," the ewe exclaimed while Vernon sighed and rolled his eyes, a small smirk forming at the corners of his muzzle.

"Agreed, Mrs. BellHunter," Mrs. Capreol said, letting out a chuckle that she then suppressed. "But, you see, that's what I'm talking about. In the past three months since she started... in her words 'walking the beat', Lily's caught over sixty of her fellow students acting out... and two teachers for parking violations... which we then had to officially report to the police."

"I don't understand, though," Dawn said, after getting herself back under control; "she seems to be doing a good job."

Vernon frowned... but nodded. "Has she been breakin' any rules?" he asked.

"Not at all, she's actually quite the stickler for them. There's just a little concern that maybe she's been watching some police shows that might be influencing her," the principal gently said.

"Uhm... not exactly..." Vernon said, rubbing the back of his head. "See... my Pa, and my brothers... and my sister-in-law... and a couple of family friends, all happen ta be in law enforcement and... well... I kinda saw a few different influences when watchin' that there video."

Dawn nodded. "That was absolutely a great Trent impression when Lily was questioning that boy."

"And the hallway chase was easily Wade all the way," Vernon said, smiling, but also feeling the ball of worry in his stomach return, as he briefly thought of Lily actually growing up to become a cop as well. The very thought made his chest tighten up with fear.

"I... see..." the principal said, unsure of how to continue. It was then that the door to her office opened, and in trudged three rhino boys, all looking sullen. In behind them marched Lily, carrying a cooler.

"Got three more fer ya, Chief," Lily said. Behind her was a remote-controlled platform on wheels with a camera on it, being operated by a shrew boy. Which to Dawn explained how the camera was kept so steady in the video. "Caught the Stampederson brothers at it again with the sellin' of sodas." Lily set the cooler down on the principal's desk and opened it, revealing several cans of soda in ice, all with crude price-stickers attached to them. Lily then noticed the other two mammals in the room, and her eyes went wide with excitement.

"Hi Mommy! Hi Daddy!" she said before running over and hugging both of her parents. While returning their daughter's hug, the three rhino boys started snickering. Lily whipped around to face them, her face contorting into a terrifying Glare. The boys were instantly silenced, looking down again. Lily then smiled and resumed hugging her parents.

"And apparently my Ma's been influencin' her too," Vernon mumbled.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hey there, readers! I am so excited to have finally finished the second chapter of _Hall Monitors_! Please consider taking the time to leave a comment or review, as that really makes my day!**

"I don't know if we should be supportin' this, Honey Lamb," Vernon said as he carried the big bowl of popcorn to the living room, setting it down on the coffee table.

"Puppy, we've talked about this. This is something Lily is passionate about, and she needs to know that her parents support her and are proud of her," Dawn chided as she followed, carrying the platter of apple slices with caramel dipping sauce, setting it down next to the popcorn.

"But--"

"Puppy, what did I tell you about being restrictive?" Dawn's hooves were on her hips, her left foot tapping.

Vernon sighed. "Don't hand over yer baggage to someone that don't have it, especially yer pup..."

"Because?" 

Vernon sighed again. "That's what therapists er' for."

"Good Puppy. Therapists _and_ mates," Dawn said, reaching up to pat his paw.

A chorus of giggles brought smiles to both their muzzles as their pups happily came down the stairs. In front was Alice, who was wearing a pink t-shirt with a white skirt, followed by Trevor, the black ram adjusting his glasses when he got to the bottom of the steps, in just jeans and a green shirt, with Lily bringing up the rear, wearing a pair of jean shorts and a white and pink striped t-shirt. She was giving a piggyback ride to Paige, the little sholf dressed in a pair of overalls with a red shirt, playing with her big sister's long brown headfur.

"Is this how you took down the perp, Lily?" Paige asked with a giggle as she tugged some more on Lily's hair.

"Not really. It was more that he tried to run, tripped on a backpack and fell. We just helped him up and escorted him to ISS," Lily giggled.

"Oh, is everything ready to watch the new webisode?" Alice asked, her tail wagging slightly upon seeing the platter of apples.

"Yup, sweet pea," Vernon said, chuckling at the sight of their pups. Alice, having just turned fourteen, would be starting high school next year. Despite her growth spurt putting her in the role of BIG big sister, Alice still adored her younger siblings. The towering teen she-wolf ruffling Lily's headfur as they migrated towards the couch. Trevor, also shooting up for a young ram his age, was of a more slight build, and took his role as big brother seriously, especially with little Paige. Of course, Lily was practically glued to Paige's side, taking her role as big sister just as seriously.

"Yay!" Paige cheered, the little sheep/wolf hybrid clapping her paws as Lily lifted her from her shoulders and sat down with her in her lap. Alice and Trevor took seats on either side, followed by Dawn and then Vern, after he let out a little sigh, having hooked up the TV to the wifi to stream the webisode from his phone. He pressed the play button, and the show started.

* * *

_Bad cubs, bad cubs, whatchu gunna do, whatchu gunna do when they come for you?_

"Hall Monitors is filmed on location with the boys and girls of rule enforcement. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in the principal's office," said the deep voice.

The video opened on a panoramic shot of numerous pre-teens in the cafeteria, murmuring as a lion cub in a blue polo shirt and khakis was on a stage, giving his speech.

"And that is why, if elected class president, I will fight with all my might, to put pressure on the school itself to work to lower the cost of lunches while raising their quality! I will fight to bring in more selection for elective classes. And I will continue to fight, alongside my teammates," he said while gesturing to the other young mammals flanking him, "on the literal front lines of the paintball tournaments to bring back glory and pride to our school!"

"Can you believe what this joker is promising?" Paul chuckled before taking a swig from his water bottle. "I'm pretty sure that the class president doesn't have any power there." Underneath him flashed his name, age, and status as a hall monitor, before the camera cut to Lily who was standing next to him, her arms crossed.

"I'm impressed that it took 'im so long to work in his time spent playin' paintball in the tournament into his speech. I figured that it woulda taken him less than five minutes, assuming he wasn't gunna lead with it." Lily looked at her friend and partner and smiled, then addressed the camera.

"Class elections're are almost here, and it's a purdy heated one this year. Me and Paul and a coupla more hall monitors are here just to make sure things don't get too rowdy," Lily explained to the camera, her info also briefly being displayed. "The two frontrunners are Lucy Hoofter, and Sherman Pridemoore up there."

The camera swung to catch sight of the stage once more.

"And you can't go believing the lies of my opponent, saying things like how I don't understand what the job and authority of the class president actually is! Well I'll tell you what I have to say to that--" Sherman's prattling was interrupted by the tiger boy on his right crying out, several splotches of blue appearing on his shoulder. It was instantly pandemonium as the assembled kids all started screaming and running to and fro, the camera showing Lily and Paul forcing their way through the bodies.

"WSHM, MOVE ASIDE!" Lily and Paul both called out. They arrived at the stage just as a polar bear cub monitor with a weasel monitor on his head arrived. The camera moved in to show the confused-looking tiger boy holding out his blue splattered arm.

"I think... I think I just got hit by some paintballs..." he said. 

"Well... it seems to me like someone's playin' the blues..." Lily said, her tone serious as she slipped on her aviators.

"Uff... really, Lily?" Paul's voice could be heard as the camera faded to black.

"I stand by what I said," her voice shot back.

_Donk-Donk_

"The school PA's are _still_ making that noise?" Paul asked.

The camera resumed filming apparently a short time later. The cafeteria was largely empty except for the swarming hall monitors, the polar bear boy cordoning off the perimeter with some yellow tape that read _Hall Monitor Line Do Not Cross_. A jackrabbit teacher standing on a nearby table was looking at the tape curiously.

"Uh, Hall Monitor Tape? Wherever did you kids find such a thing?" he asked. Lily looked to him, and her face instantly brightened.

"My uncle Zach sent it to us! He had it made at the same place that his station gets their Police Tape from! He said he was able to get them to make it special 'cause so much of our family is in law enforcement!"

"Oh... uh, well, that's... uh... nice. C-carry on then!" the jackrabbit in his three piece suit said, adjusting his tie before quickly hopping down and speed-walking away.

Lily happily nodded before returning to her fellow hall monitors. It was at that moment that Orwell showed up, the coyote boy having to push his way through the school news reporters.

"Captain! Captain! Are there any leads as to who tried to shoot Sherman with paintballs?" one voice called out.

"Was this a Hoofter supporter's doing?" another called out.

"It's too early in the investigation and no comment!" Orwell shouted out before ducking under the yellow tape.

"You're a captain now?" Paul asked, the black feline raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I just got promoted to captain of the chess team. Now enough about my personal life, what's the situation?"

"The victim's name is Tim Growlins. He took three paintballs, all blue, to the shoulder. His condition is stable, only a slight chance of his fur getting stained. Wish we could say the same fer his hoodie." Lily gestured to a grey hoodie safely sealed in a large sealed baggie, the shoulder that had been shot in plain view, which she then stared at for a moment.

"Injuries?"

"None," Paul chimed in, "not even a bruise. We'll know more from the boys and girls in the lab in a little bit, but my money is that it was a .50 caliber paintball."

Orwell nodded, and then paused. "Wait... we have a lab?"

"No, some friends of mine in the chemistry lab club. They said they would analyse the paintball fragments and the paint itself." Paul smiled proudly.

"Okay, so someone took a shot at Sherman with a low-impact paintball gun, while he was giving a speech in front of a bunch of mammals. It was either someone with a lot of nerve or a lacking in brains."

"Sammy and Arturo are taking statements and asking if anyone filmed the speech when it happened," Lily said, scribbling in her notebook.

"Well, what about them?" Orwell said, gesturing to the camera itself. Lily leaned in to whisper.

"Kiera REALLY wants us to try and find some other option before we try looking through her unedited footage."

Orwell rolled his eyes but nodded. "Fine. You two get the victim's statement and... where's Sherman?" The coyote boy looked around.

"Oh, he went with his friend to the nurse's office," Lily chimed in.

"Alright, get his statement too, and see if he might have an idea about who would try to pump him full of paint." Trevor and Lily nodded and, ducking under the hall monitor tape, started to head towards the nurse's office, ignoring the school newspaper reporters.

"Ugh, when did the school newspaper get so many kids working on it?" Lily asked when she and Paul were walking the halls.

"You didn't hear?" Paul asked, surprised.

"Hear what?"

"Well, apparently Jessica and Kammy had a HUGE fight, and so Jessica left the West Savannah Gazette and started her own newspaper! The Weekly Horn."

"Woah... and the teachers were fine with that?"

"Yeah, Mr. Bunnyton became their sponsor."

"Huh..."

"But that's not all! After Jessica and some more students left, a group of more students who were either rejected or kicked off the school paper started up a third one. The Daily Journal! And it is a total tabloid!"

"Really? Who sponsored that?"

"Old Mrs. Chomper..."

"Oooh," Lily said before turning to the camera. "Mrs. Chomper has kinda... checked out, since this is her last semester before retirement." The two giggled as they came upon the nurse's office, surprised to find a frustrated beaver boy hopping up to try and peer through the glass.

"Robbie? What're you doin'?" Lily asked her friend. The beaver boy in question jumped and let out a squeak, before he composed himself and gave the two hall monitors a self-assured smile.

"I'm on the clock with The Weekly Horn. I heard some rumors that Sheman was brutally attacked by a Hoofter supporter," Robbie had his phone in his paw, already recording.

"There is currently no evidence to support that theory, as of yet," Paul rattled off, opening the door for Lily.

"Oh come on, give me something! The student body has a right to know!" Robbie called out as the two entered. Just then, the school nurse, a lioness wearing pink scrubs stood in the doorway, looking down at the beaver with a frown.

"Robbie, I've told you already about hovering outside this door to pester students. Do I need to call the principal again?" Ms. Stalkly asked, paw on her hip.

Robbie looked down at his feet and wringed his paws.

"No, ma'am."

"Good, now run along," she said, shutting the door and returning to attend to her patient. She smiled and nodded to Lily and Paul.

"I take it that you two are here to speak with Timmy?" she asked.

"Yes, Ms. Stalkly, we're investigating the incident," Lily said, an excited smile on her face.

"Alright, he's taking a little break to ice his shoulder on the last bed on the left. Sherman's there with him."

"Wait, I thought that he was uninjured?" Paul asked.

"That's what he said, and I couldn't find any redness or bruising, and he said it didn't hurt. But Sherman was pretty insistent that he put some ice on it."

They both thanked the lioness and headed back past the empty beds. As they got nearer, they could hear a familiar voice speaking.

"Really we can turn this to our advantage! You with your injured arm in a sling right by my side, I can't lose!" the lion cub said with a smirk.

"But I mean it, it doesn't hurt or anything," the tiger named Timmy insisted, taking the ice pack off, only for Sherman to quickly put it back on.

"So? That doesn't mean that you're not injured. You're not a doctor, you don't know what's going on where you were hit. Just for safety's sake, we'll see about getting you a sling and maybe a neck brace that you can wear... sometimes..."

"Like whenever you're giving a speech?" Lily chimed in, her tone amused.

The lion cub whipped around and flashed the two a politician's grin.

"Well, two of our school's dedicated and brave Hall Monitors. I take it that you're here for our statements?" Sherman asked.

"Yeah. We'd actually like to speak to you two separately," Paul said.

"Of course," Sherman said, waving his paw semi-dismissively, before slipping an arm around Lily's waist to guide her off to the side a bit. At first, Paul bristled, until he saw Lily grab the paw, making the lion wince, and forcefully remove it. Paul smirked at that before turning to Tim.

"How are you feeling, Tim?"

"Okay, I guess," the tiger said while looking down at the floor.

"I don't suppose that you got a good look at who shot you?"

"No... I didn't see who did it at all..."

"That's okay," Paul said, pulling out his own notebook and scribbling in it. "Can you think of anyone who might have a grudge against you or..." he gestured over to Sherman who was talking to Lily near the far wall, leaning with one arm on the wall, leaning close to talk to Lily, putting his other paw on her hand. Paul watched as she grabbed it, making Sherman let out a pained gasp, and chuckled.

"As you can see... Sherman's kind of a grudge magnet. I can't think of anyone who would want to try something like this to me. But for him... well..."

"Anyone make any threats?" Paul asked.

"No... no outright threats. The only person I can think of who was angry enough to try something like this would be... maybe someone from another school whose team lost to us during the paintball tournaments?" Timmy offered.

Paul nodded and wrote that down.

"Well, I think that that's all that you need to know," Sherman said, slinking back over to stand by his friend. "Loony Lucy or one of her deranged hangers' on probably did it." Paul saw that he was cradling his paw. Lily came to stand by her partner. "And, unless I need to talk to my mock attorney, I think that this line of questioning for my friend and myself is at an end."

Paul and Lily shared a look before they nodded. "Alright. But, if either of you can think of anything else--"

"You'll be the first to know," the lion cub said, waiving his paw dismissively again.

Lily and Paul started to walk away, heading towards the door. "I got the feeling that they're not telling us the whole truth," Paul leaned in to whisper.

"Agreed. All I got out of Sherman was an offer for a date," Lily said with a roll to her eyes. Paul looked a bit worried. "Don't worry, I turned him down again."

"I-I wasn't worried!" Paul spluttered. "I was just concerned that..." Paul came to a stop. "Wait, what do you mean _again_?" With that the camera faded to black.

_Donk-Donk_

The camera started filming again as Paul and Lily walked through an open door, the words West Savannah Middle School Chemistry Lab. The two looked up at the speaker over the door.

"I think it's gettin' worse," Lily said, with Paul nodding, before spotting his friend, a wolf waving him over.

"Hey, Luis!" Paul and Lily approached the koala sitting at a computer, on top of some phone books.

"Hey Paul," he said with a smile, "crazy free period, huh?"

"I'll say. Betcha that the principal never imagined any of this happening when she came up the extra hour added on to lunch for election week campaigning!"

"I don't think that she'll be doing that again next year," Lily added, to much nodding from the other two.

"So what have you got for us, Luis?" Paul asked.

"Not a whole lot, unfortunately," the koala said, his fluffy ears drooping a little before perking right back up, "but I did get something!"

He then spun around in his seat and showed the two a small clear dish. "The paint used is pretty generic. Water soluble, but it can still stain a little bit. I was able to piece together the fragments of the paintball you collected! It's definitely a .50 caliber. And what's more, check this out!" 

He typed away on the screen, revealing the image from the electronic microscope that was hooked up to the computer. It showed a large chunk of the paintball. "I got the brand name!"

"Wasteland Park Co.?" Lily asked aloud.

"That's the paintball park in the Rainforest District!" Luis said excitedly. "And it's the only place where you can get their particular brand of paintballs!"

"Woah... so we gotta cross reference every student who's been there recently and--" Lily started only to see Luis shaking his head.

"Already called them up. It turns out that they're closed for renovations... have been since the end of the last tournament. The last purchase from them in paintballs were all red, and that was to a fox and bunny pair of officers from the ZPD."

"Hmm... so maybe... our shooter was involved in the tournament in some way?" Paul offered.

"Maybe... it certainly is too big a coincidence to ignore, that's fer sure!" Lily was excitedly scribbling in her notebook. "I think we need to talk to Sherman again..."

Lily then noticed Luis examining a pitri dish.

"What's that?" she asked. The koala boy looked up at her.

"Not sure just yet. It's something Sammy brought in a little bit ago. It's some kind of blue crystals."

Paul and Lily looked at one another, and shrugged.

_Donk-Donk_

The three looked up at the speakers. "Yup," Paul said, "definitely getting worse." The camera cut to black before coming back to find Lily and Paul outside, behind a set of bleachers at the baseball field, Sherman frowning as he stood facing them.

"Look, I don't know what this is about, but I'm getting the feeling that this is bordering on harassment," the lion cub said, sounding petulant.

"We've uncovered some new evidence that suggests that the shooter was involved in the last school paintball tournament," Paul said, while Sherman slicked back his headfur.

"Oh, really?" he asked with a frown.

"Yeah. Can you think of anyone from the tournament who might have a grudge against you?" Lily asked. Sherman flashed her a greasy grin.

"Sure can, little missy," he said, casually leaning against the bleachers while Lily rolled her eyes, "every single team that I won against."

"Don't you mean every single team that the school won against?" Paul asked. Sherman frowned at that.

"I'm the one who led us to victory, thank you very much," Sherman huffed.

"But didn't you come in second in the individual point grading system?" Lily asked, seemingly innocently.

"Well, yeah... but the only reason I wasn't in first was because they actually counted the scores... I mean, because of HOW they counted the scores!" Sherman said, looking flustered and embarrassed.

"Well, do you remember who was using blue paintballs in the tournament?" Lily then asked, hoping for a more candid answer now that he had been knocked out of his comfort zone.

"... Well, yeah. Ours..." the lion cub said, his eyes going wide.

"You just think of someone?" Paul asked, having noticed the sudden shift in the cocky cub before them.

"Y-yeah. The person who took first place... Brittney Leapington..."

Two sets of eyebrows were raised at that moment. "Why would she have a grudge against you?" Paul asked.

"Well... I may have spurned her advances one too many times, so that and the fact that she blames me just because she got her entire squad wiped out."

"Why would she blame you for that?" Lily asked, suspicious. Sherman lashed her another sleazy smile. "Girls are irrational, and I tend to make them go crazy," he said with a wink. Lily looked at him with an unamused, half-lidded gaze while Paul frowned.

_Donk-Donk_

All three of them looked around confused. "Out here too?" he asked before the camera faded to black, coming back with the partners back at the Hall Monitor's HQ. Lily and Paul were at a computer screen, watching some phone footage of the speech. It was then that Orwell approached the two.

"The footage reveal anything?" he asked.

"Nothing that I can see," said Paul.

"Well, maybe this can help. I have an old friend whom I served with on the school's team not too long ago," Orwell said, handing Paul a manilla folder, "he got a job at Wasteland Park after he graduated to high school. He was able to get me the details on the last couple of tournaments."

Paul opened it while Lily looked over his shoulder. 

"Huh, so Timmy served on Sherman's squad," Lily stated.

They took a second to scan the pages a bit more before finding what they were looking for.

"Here it is. Brittney Leapington... woah, look at that! She got the highest confirmed hit count of anyone! 505 Confirmed Hits in one year! Oh, that was over at the Tundra Town Snowy Peaks Paintball Park! Huh, she even got a nickname. The Snowy Demise."

"Wait, why would Wasteland have the stats and info on a player over at Snowy Peaks?" Lily wondered aloud.

"According to my friend, a bunch of the paintball fields are part of the same tournament circuit, so they share points and other relevant info," the coyote was quick to explain.

"Huh... this is pretty comprehensive... it even has her strategy," Paul continued. "Apparently, she was her team's sniper. Her preferred rifle is the Tigerius Arms Z9... without a scope? Huh, she said that sunlight glinting off the scopes would give away a sniper's position. And she would go out early in the game, pack the snow around her where she felt the enemy teams were logically going to try and advance, even packing snow in her mouth to prevent her breath from fogging up, also something that could give away her position!"

"Yeah... and apparently there IS some bad blood between her and Sherman," Orwell said, making Paul and Lily look up. "My friend also told me that she claimed that Sherman and his team were cheating, but... there had been no evidence to support her claim."

"Sounds like a motive," Paul said, closing the folder. Orwell nodded. "And get this. We just heard from coach Trunker. He said that a paintball gun is missing from the cabinet he stored them in. Guess what was found stuffed behind the trashcan in the hall just outside the cafeteria."

Lily and Paul shared a look while Orwell continued. "So that there's motive and means. Track her down and check her alibi. See if she had the opportunity."

The partners nodded and started to head towards the door... but stopped, and looked up.

"What're you two waiting for?" Orwell asked. "We only have half an hour left for free period."

_Donk-Donk_

"That," Lily said before they exited, the screen fading to back.

The camera faded back in to the two walking the halls.

"What's wrong, Lily?" Paul asked, the panther boy sounding concerned.

"Something doesn't feel right," the human girl said.

"Like what?"

"... In the report, it said that she has an accuracy rate of 96%."

"And?'

"And... if Sherman was really her target, then she wouldn't have missed. Especially not three times in a row."

"... Well, we don't know all the factors yet," Paul said before coming to a stop right next to Lily. Standing before them was the light grey bunny in question.

"I heard that you two were looking for me," she said, one blue eye and one yellow eye looking the two hall monitors up and down. She was wearing a white dress with a bright green butterfly pendant.

"Uh... y-yeah? How'd you hear that?" Paul asked.

"Sammy told me," she said, pointing to the polar bear hall monitor who was nearby. He gave the two a wave, which they reciprocated.

"We were wondering where you were between 12:03 to 12:15 earlier today," Paul started, pulling out his notebook, pen at the ready.

"I was over at the Hoofter speech in the auditorium," she said simply.

"Can anybody verify that?" Lily said.

"Yeah, pretty much everyone there. I asked some questions during the Q&A."

"Oh... so you're not a big Sherman fan then?" Paul queried.

Brittney snorted and shook her head. "He's a jerk, plain and simple," she said, crossing her arms.

"We heard that ya made some allegations against him," Lily said.

"I did... he was cheating to try and come in first."

"How so?"

"I didn't know it at the time, but the times just didn't add up. Not without him being in two places at once," Brittney stated, shaking her head bitterly before continuing, "I still don't know how he did it, but he cheated. And I can't prove it, but I know he's the one who gave away my squad's position! But he wasn't counting on me surviving to keep playing in the rest of the tournament. He barely even knows which way to hold his paintball gun! He had to have had some help, and I'm not just talking about his group of friends! Those Tundra Scorpions are no joke! Yet he and his group didn't get hit once!"

"Hmmm..." Lily thought, before her eyes suddenly went wide. "C'mon, Paul!" she said, grabbing Paul by his shirt collar and sprinting, dragging the panther boy behind her, leaving behind a very confused bunny.

"LIIIIIILY, what are you doing?!" he called out.

_Donk-Donk_

"Sherman wasn't the target!" Lily said excitedly. Paul got his footing and began to sprint alongside the excited human girl.

"Huh?"

"The footage we watched, something about it wasn't right. Combine that with all we've learned so far, and it adds up!"

"Huh?"

"The area where Sherman was giving his 'impromptu' speech was around fifteen feet. Assuming that that's where the shooter was standing, before they fired, ditched the gun behind the trashcan, and ran, maybe blending in with the stampeding crowd; an experienced paintballer wouldn't have too much trouble with a target like that! At least not three times in a row! And the grouping was all so close together!"

It then clicked for Paul. "Wait... so Timmy was the target?"

"Yeah!"

"But... why?" Paul asked, confused as the nurse's office came into view. Lily didn't get a chance to enter as she practically bowled Robbie over sliding to a stop at the door to the nurse's office. She wrenched the door open, followed by Paul. They found the tiger boy still sitting on the bed, his arm now in a makeshift sling.

"Timmy!" Lily's voice made him jump.

"Wh-what?" he asked, looking down at the floor.

"Sherman wasn't the target, was he? It was you!" Lily looked triumphant.

"U-uh... n-no..."

"You saw something in the last tournament, didn't you?" she continued to press, seeing how his tail swished showing his agitation.

"I-I..."

"Something that Sherman didn't want anybody to know... like how he was cheating?" Lily asked. At that, Timmy looked up, tears in his eyes.

"I s-swear that I didn't know at the t-time! I was j-just playing f-for the fun of it!" He then clamped his paws over his mouth, both of them, even the one on his "injured" arm. 

Lily put her hands on her hips and leaned in closer, before pointing at his shoulder. "THIS was just a warning, wasn't it? To keep quiet."

"I... I... y-yes..." Tears started to stream down Timmy's face. "I s-saw Sherman's phone accidentally. H-he had paid a group of kids from another school to pose as our team, as well as kids from the enemy teams when he wanted them to take out other players from our school on other squads, if they were scoring too high. They would switch uniforms in the snow-drifts or in the dense foliage at Wasteland!"

"Woah..." Paul and Lily both said simultaneously.

"I s-saw it all in a series of texts on Sherman's phone when he set it down. I wasn't trying to snoop, it just popped up because he left his phone unlocked, still in the conversation history. What drew my eye was some photos taken of players from our school shown, shot... I don't know why..."

"It was confirmation of the kills," came a voice behind the hall monitors. They spun to see Sherman standing there, holding a small envelope, with a smug smirk on his muzzle. "I even paid one of them to shoot Timmy here and make it look like I was the target. Pretty smart, eh?"

"So the paintball tournament hero is a coward who had ta hire mercenaries and bully his friend into silence," Lily said, her hands on her hips.

"Hey now... it's like my uncle Leodore on my mom's side always says. You can always work out a deal. Look, all you've got on me is his word, so if you try to take me, the apparent victim to everyone else, down, you'll be kicked out of the hall monitors. But... I got $100 here with both of your names on it. Keep quiet, and I can keep the cash coming from bake sales and the like. Plus, I'll even let you date me," he said, giving Lily a wink.

"First off, ew," Lily said, "secondly, we already got you on attempting to bribe me and my partner as well as conspiracy to steal school bake sale funds. That right there's two weeks of suspension and automatic disqualification. And thirdly, we've got two corroborating witnesses, and I'd be willing to bet that after some prodding, more of your 'friends' will chime in as well!"

"You don't have any proof!" Sherman snarled. Paul simply crossed his arms and smirked.

"Oh yes we do, right Robbie?" he asked, looking past the now wide-eyed lion cub's shoulders. The beaver was standing there, his phone out, filming.

"Oh yeah. I got the scoop of the century!"

"Sherman Pridemoore, y'all are coming with us," Lily said, also smirking.

_Donk-Donk_

The screen faded to black, before resuming back in the Hall Monitor HQ. The camera zoomed in on a school newspaper in Lily's hands. The Sherman Scandal, it read.

"And so ends Sherman's middle school political career," Lily said aloud, setting the edition of the Gazette down on Paul's desk.

"Not only is Sherman looking at possible expulsion, he and all of his friends are banned from all school sports teams, as well as from any and all school elected positions!" Paul said, looking rather pleased.

"You two did a great job," Orwell said walking over holding a mug of hot cocoa.

"You guys!" The three turned to the voice calling out to see Luis running in through the doorway. The koala was holding a sandwich baggie with something blue inside.

"I just got done analyzing some crystal stuff that Sammy collected earlier!"

"Huh?" Lily asked, confused, "What is it?"

"It's rock candy! But not just any rock candy! Based on the lack of uniformity of the sugar crystals... this here's homemade!"

Everyone in the room paused as they digested that piece of information.

"So... looks like someone's cooking up some trouble..."

The camera went dark just as a chorus of groans could be heard.

* * *

Paige clapped her paws. "That's such a fun show!" she said before hopping down, followed by Alice, who ruffled Lily's headfur before following.

"That was so cool!" Trevor said, hopping up, "this gives me an idea for a new story!" And like that, he ran off to his room.

"Did I do a good job?" Lily asked, now sitting alone between her parents. Dawn reached her hooves around her daughter's waist and squeezed.

"You did a very good job, sweetie! Right, Vernon?" Dawn pointedly asked her mate. The large wolf looked at his mate and daughter, and managed a smile.

"Yup. I'm so proud of ya, sugar plum," he said, pulling her into a hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **And there you have it folks! I hope that you enjoyed the newest installment!**

**Author's Note:**

> **There you have it! Please consider leaving a review or comment! And thank you for reading!**


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